The Frontline with Dr Gary Payinda
Episodes
NZ, Monaco, the Cayman Islands: the strange company we keep when it comes to taxes & public services
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Glenn Barclay of Tax Justice Aotearoa answers our tax questions, from the $1 billion LNG import terminal 'levy/tax', to the IRD's treatmen...
"Students become little more than backpacks full of cash." When private profit drives public school policy.
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
History teacher and Post-Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) president Chris Abercrombie discusses cut-rate lunches, school curriculum changes, and do...
Raise your hand if you would like your public hospital to be there for you when you need it
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation with Rob Campbell, economist, healthcare expert, and co-founder of Kaitiaki Hauora, a new organisation that wants us to focus on 3 thin...
Spent or squandered? Where are your Health dollars going?
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Bagshaw (can we make him Health Minister please?) points out the 'secret' scam that is public-private partnerships...also known as dirty &#...
Putting out the fire: a talk with firefighter Reuben Otto
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
An eye-opening talk with Reuben Otto, firefighter and member of the NZ Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) about the challenges of firefighting. N...
Tim Welch: Fast is slow, a conversation with a speed limit expert
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Tim Welch, urban planning researcher, talks to The Frontline about how faster speed limits can actually lead to slower driving times. And he introd...
Dave 'Bear' Hookway-Kopa on battling epidemics. From AIDS in the 1980s to alcohol harm today
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
HIV/AIDS, Covid, Syphilis, Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. What, if anything, have we learned about the social determinants of health that will help ...
Malcolm Mulholland: "Someone's got to speak out..."
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Malcolm Mulholland is the chair of Patient Voice Aotearoa, a patient advocacy group that The Frontline is happy to help support. They fought for bette...
Surf life saving: creating a nation of rescuers, helpers, and good citizens
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Today the Frontline talks with Dan Short, paramedic, rescue swimmer and lifelong surf lifesaver...back by popular demand. We discuss some daring rescu...
Tattoos and Skin Cancer: What the new Swedish melanoma study tells us about risk and regulation
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Around 350 people a year in New Zealand die from melanoma. Around 20% of New Zealanders have tattoos. Is there any link between the two? And what d...
Turning teachers into technicians and education into regurgitation: the Education Amendment Bill
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jessie Moss, senior professional advisor at NZEI, talks us through attempts to rush the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill into law...
Hurdles on the path to a gentle death: Ann David speaks about a new bill to improve assisted dying for terminally ill patients
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ann David is the Past President of the End-of-Life Choice Society, and she's with us to talk about a newly proposed bill that seeks to reduce so...
"Roadside drug testing could be a great idea if it was accurate and effective. But is it either of those things?"
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Accurate and effective, or a policy that will fill the jails while simultaneously not making the streets any safer? What does the international evide...
Man on a wire: Dan Short Helicopter Paramedic and Rescue Swimmer
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Frontline spoke with Dan Short about what it takes to be a critical care paramedic. The training, the challenges, the teamwork, and the most memor...
Half of NZ can't afford to see a dentist. Max Harris and Dental for All want to change that.
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation with Max Harris, lawyer, campaigner, and author, talking about Dental for All, a group that's got a national roadshow under way t...
The Mysterious Case of Health's Disappearing Half-Billion.
16 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Craig Renney (Chief Economist of the CTU and host of The Locked-In Podcast) is our guest this week on The Frontline, telling us about the $500 million...
Gabrielle Baker: Connecting Māori life expectancy back to current health policies
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Māori health ‘privilege’ starts in childhood with a 30X higher risk of rheumatic fever, continues in adulthood with later diagnosis, fewer treatm...
Dr Lisa Darragh: Setting education up to fail?
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Frontline spoke with a maths education researcher about international test scores, smartphones in classes, bullying and behavioural problems in st...
A Dim Prognosis? NZ healthcare at a crossroads
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ivor Popovich, the young ICU doctor who wrote A Dim Prognosis, gives us an insider's look at the best and worst of medicine and healthcare in NZ....
'Managing Decline': More than a Decade of Health Data Reveals Where We're Heading
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that the growth in New Zealanders' life expectancy, increasing since basically forever, has finally fizzled out? That our levels of u...
Tales from the Crypt: Rogernomics and Ruthanasia reappear
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today Elliot Crossan, author and activist with System Change Aotearoa, is talking with The Frontline about neoliberalism's original grandparents: ...
Poverty, prison, and Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder: An ignored problem affecting far too many NZ children
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Clinical psychologist and public health expert Dave (Bear) Hookway-Kopa tells us about a problem, FASD, which currently affects more than 1 in every 6...
Rogernomics, privatisation, and your taxes: Haven't we tried this already? A conversation with Terry Baucher
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tax consultant Terry Baucher takes us through Sir Roger Douglas's recent proposal to 'save' the NZ economy. We touch on issues of wealth...
Women's Pay Equity has been gutted: are you one of the 300,000 women (and men!) affected?
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Melissa Ansell-Bridges, the National Secretary of the CTU, spoke with me about the far-reaching impacts the destruction of the Pay Equity laws will c...
Firecracker: Justine Sachs talks about Nurse Understaffing
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Justine Sachs is a healthcare trade unionist based in Tamaki Makaurau. Speaking about the need for Labour to be bold to save our public health system....
"When cancer screening fails"
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
NZ found literally billions of tax dollars for weapons systems, property investors, and tobacco companies. But $3,000 for a colonoscopy to prevent col...
Max Harris: Good guys finish last? Max says ‘No’
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lawyer, scholar, author and social advocate Dr Max Harris talks about how those in progressive political movements can win without selling their souls...
An ex-gun lobbyist Govt Minister weakening NZ's Alcohol Policies? It's exactly as bad as it sounds
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I speak with Andrew Galloway of Alcohol Healthwatch, and Dr Rose Crossin, a public health researcher, about the changes being made to alcohol laws t...
Tough times for patients: a path forward
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Aniva Lawrence is a Samoan Kiwi GP and educator and advocate for rural, Maori and Pacific communities. A leader in primary healthcare, she talks ab...
Can a 'decent and thoughtful man' win in local politics?
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this Frontline interview, I talked with Whangarei Mayoral candidate Ken Couper for an hour...all about local government. But don't wander off, beca...
No legal requirement for an equitable health system via changes to Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alison McDougall is helping lead a citizen-run group called Protect Public Healthcare (PPH). They're publicising changes to the Pae Ora (Healthy F...
Empty threats: If they have to pay their fair share of taxes, they will leave
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Turns out it's not really true. 99.7 percent of them will stay. And the money they pay in taxes will help build our society up. A conversation on ...
On the backs of low-wage women: the secret schemes of a privatisation government
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fleur Fitzsimons and the PSA (Public Service Administration) have served as the voice and conscience of the NZ worker in the fight against unjust gove...
The conflagration: How much more damage could they possibly do in another 18 months?
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Organising a resistance to the coalition can't wait until the next election. It's got to start now, locally. With strong resolve, and a fierce...
Is there anything wrong with your public healthcare being a source of private profit? A chat with Ian Powell.
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Powell spent 35 years in healthcare policy as head of the public (salaried) doctors' union. He's seen it all, and has some surprising th...
Doctors ask Politicians to finally put some 'Skin in the Game'.
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
An interview with Dr Marcus Lee, a Northland cardiologist who, along with dozens of other doctors, penned an open letter to Simeon Brown, the Minister...
Taupo ED underfunding, the alcohol industry doing the right thing and is wine a carcinogen?
20 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Taupo's ED understaffing woes and close-down risk is making news again. A bit of good science news on the gut microbiome's effect on heart attacks. ...
The Hate that Social Media Brewed: When rage fuels Social Media corporate profits, how do nations avoid a descent into violence?
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Spoonley is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Massey University and an expert on how nations counter violent extremism. This episode of Th...
Simeon Does it Again, Attacking Nurses on Social Media
13 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Frontline talks with Odie Matson, an experienced nurse and NZ Nurse's Organisation delegate, about Simeon's latest Facebook lash-out.How c...
UBER hiding from taxes? Say it ain't so
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hiding 98% of your NZ profits in an offshore tax haven? Totally illegal. Unless you are a corporation like UBER, in which case it's totally legal. ...
Driving nurses away by the thousands
06 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
NZNO Delegate and Emergency Nurse extraordinaire Rachel Thorn RN talks about retention of nursing staff, the challenges of nurse understaffing, pay of...
Who's counting anyway? Killing the NZ Census
03 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The New Zealand government has announced that after 174 years, they're ending the NZ Census, to save money. The census helps decide what infrastructur...
'Work faster.' NZ nurses push for safety
29 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are nurses in Auckland being forced to work overtime, longer than they're contracted to and longer than they want to? Are those same nurses then getti...
The Frontline Trailer
22 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Frontline is a new podcast that is going to talk about whether there might be a better way to build a stronger nation than privatising our essenti...